NASA Space Camp

Words by Narelle Mulrooney

After four years of planning and a few false starts, the Loreto College NASA Space Camp finally launched in early July this year. 21 students and four staff members embarked on a journey of a lifetime, to the USA in the name of science. A trip designed to inspire and educate students that are interested in science and space.

Following the bus accident enroute to the camp in 2022, it was important for some of us to be able to finally find closure on such a traumatic experience.

After a gruelling 30 hours of international travel, we finally made it to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (Space Camp), Huntsville Alabama. The weather was hot and steamy with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius, combined with lightning and thunder storms, very different conditions to what we had left back in Ballarat.

The students immediately entered into the weeklong experience of the Advanced Space Academy®, a thrilling course based on NASA astronaut training, focusing on teamwork and leadership skills through an immersive experience in science, engineering, technology and math.

As staff members, we were amazed at the exciting activities that students were able to experience on a daily basis. Activities such as being spun around in a Multi-Axis trainer, experiencing neutral buoyancy by SCUBA diving, designing and launching a team rocket to safely recover it’s passenger (the egg - hopefully still in tact), scaling high walls and jumping off tall poles, flying jet simulators, and best of all, exploring space and Mars through mission simulations and immersive Planetarium sessions.

The Mars missions were an absolute hit with the students. Operating in a massive, black shed with replica space buildings and equipment, the students were broken into teams which rotated for each mission. Some were responsible for running the mission from the control room - simulating being back at base. Another group were stationed inside the mock Space Station or shuttles and then a few were responsible for completing the tasks while suspended in the air. Challenges were thrown at them constantly, forcing the teams to work together, remotely, in problem solving.

It was very uplifting to see so many excited, smiling faces and watch them immerse themselves in all the challenges thrown at them.

One student, Shae reflected ‘Something that will stay with me forever is definitely the memories of everyone working as a team and solving problems together.’

Another student, Freya, reflected

‘I would recommend going on this trip because it really helped me understand the real-world applications of things I’ve learned at school.’

Another hit with the students was the SCUBA diving activity, designed to experience neutral buoyancy - similar to that felt in space. Those that were able to submerse themselves underwater to a depth of 40 feet (12 meters), played basketball games, navigated underwater obstacles and completed simple tasks of fitting poles together. As the tank was made of steel, there were a few delays in the program due to lightening activity in the area. Water, steel and lightening do not go well together... apparently!

Something that wasn’t such a big hit was the American canteen style food, served in a cafeteria catering for over 800 meals per day. There were some astonishing food combinations that we ‘Aussies’ were not used to, such as ‘Chicken Waffle’ - a chicken schnitzel placed on top of a sweet waffle then drizzled in maple syrup. The locals love it but we definitely had our doubts.

The staff at Space Camp were a unique mix of science or field specific enthusiasts and university students, working on their summer break. They were all very caring and engaging, looking after all of the students 24/7 and ensuring all tasks were well instructed and safely executed.

At the completion of the camp, the students were treated to an extra special graduation ceremony with real life astronauts Robert (Hoot) Gibson and Charlie Duke. Charlie enthralled us with his experiences as CAPCOM for the Apollo 11 mission and his moon landing adventures on the Apollo 16 mission. He told a great tale about his near death experience on the moon while participating in the very first ‘Moon Olympics’. We were lucky enough to be able to chat directly with Charlie after the graduation and have our photo taken. This was such an amazing experience - one that does not come along often.

After leaving Huntsville, we then travelled to Orlando where we were treated to an educational, behind the scenes tour of Universal Studios. Entering the park early, before any other people were allowed in, we strolled, toured and experienced rides without any interruptions.

The first ride we analysed was The Mummy Returns, learning how the ride worked prior to boarding and how the special effects added to the ride’s overall experience. We rode it once with the lights on and then in darkness, as it should be experienced, to witness all the special effects in action. This became the theme of the day, with the Transformers ride and then the Jason Bourne show – learning how the attractions worked prior to experiencing them. We were amazed at the amount of science required for the design, planning and execution of all the attractions at Universal Studios – certainly inspiring for our future engineers.

The following day, staff and students were free to roam the park and enjoy (or to be scared out of their wits!) all the attractions including Harry Potter and Jurasic Worlds and their hair-raising rollercoasters.

On our final day we were all treated to iFly, a simulated sky diving experience. Before experiencing the gravity defying wind tunnel, students had to formulate their own Terminal Velocity by measuring their body surface area and weight, which was crossed checked by actual data once completing the ride. The math equations were something out of my intelligence realm, but well embraced by our super smart students and the maths and science teachers.

The trip overall was very enlightening on the science front. Tour leader Ms Natalie Howard explained

‘These trips are so important as research shows that participation in educational tours like this, results in a higher engagement in the study of science through VCE and University.‘

It is advantageous for Loreto College to keep providing these opportunities in order to inspire the next generation of female engineers, science researchers and perhaps even astronauts.

While I am not a person knowledgeable in maths or science, I can truly say that this experience was thrilling and enlightening - witnessing these programs in action was inspiring enough to turn even me into a ‘Science Nerd’.